the lucky wolf, fortuna lupus
by shadowcalan
Summary: my first fan fic, its based off of the oblivion main story line. comments accepted and requested :  rated m for future chapters
1. the escape

Chapter 1

the escape

All night he dreamed horrid dreams. A dream of a world, whose very sky was ablaze with fire, whose oceans boiled red and searing to the flesh. All around was death, decay, destruction. He stood before a large burning gate, as an army of twisted beings in strange looking armor moved towards him. They clustered around a grand mechanical beast which was resemblant of an arachnid, as it moved closer he began to hear a voice speaking to him. It was a males voice, speaking of his past and his lack of control over his destiny. Just as the mechanical spider reached him...

His eyes flew open. He wasn't really standing in a burning hell he was... in prison. Which is just as bad a hell as any kind of volcanic world could be. He brushed his long white hair back out of his face, he was an odd child having white hair and bright Grey eyes. His name is Fortuna Lupus, a name that up till a month ago when he was thrown into a dingy morrowind prison for defending his friend, of whom was getting raped, from a guard no less, was a badge of honor, the lucky wolf. But as it turns out, the bastard guard had friends in high places. So Fortuna ended up in jail, whilst the guard got a heroes funeral. Joy.

Although initially imprisoned in morrowind, this was a new cell. He was now in the imperial city prison, smack in the middle of the Cyrodilic empire, hell, he wouldn't be surprised if he was smack in the center of the whole fucking continent. About a week ago, he got packed up and moved out of the fort near his home town of Balmora, and boarded on a Seyda Neen boat, for... no real reason, tho looking around his cell with the chains hanging from the ceiling and the random bones laying on the floor he wondered what was going to become of him. Sitting up in his bed-roll, he looked around more, spotting a rickety old table and stool, on the table sat a loaf of bread and some water.

"ugh, I'm so sick of bread," he groaned.

Suddenly there was movement in the shadows beyond his cells door, his hand flew to his hip, expectant of a sword, but of course, there was none.

"wh-who's there" came a slow voice.

A fellow prisoner, his muscles relaxed.

"I'm new," he sighed

He peered into the other cell, his cold grey eyes were met with a mocking red.

_ Oh great. _He thought to himself_ a fucking dunmer_

"oh! Whats this? An imperial in the imperial prison?"the dark elf laughed

"yeah? So what?" Fortuna's eyes narrowed, the dunmer's voice was full of nothing but mockery.

"i guess they really don't play favorites, huh" he continued "your own kinsmen think your a pile of human trash!"

Fortuna's eyes narrowed further, this elf really was asking for it, he bent down and picked up one of the bones lining his cell.

"how sad, I bet the guards give you some 'special' treatment before the end! Thats right! Your going to die in here imperial! Your going to die"

Fortuna let out a growl and threw the bone, it whistled through the air and stabbed into the dunmeri's eye, squirting blood, the dunmeri screeched as he grabbed for the eye.

"IMPERIAL SCUM LIKE YOU GIVE THE EMPIRE A BAD NAME! BEST IF YOU JUST DISSAPEARED!" he roared, pulling out the bone with a sickening pop... which made Fortuna guess the eye came out too.

"yea? Well you talk to much" he sneered at the one red eye still glinting at him, but only for a second as the dunmeri's retort was cut off by the scream of an ancient rusty iron door creaking alive and open

"hear that? There coming for you" he hissed. "you in'wa"

footsteps began descending the stares, along with voices.

"my sons... they're dead aren't they" an familiar voice said sadly.

"we don't know that sire," a female quickly responded. "the messenger only said that they were attacked!"

"no... they're dead. I know it to be true"

"my job right now is to get you to safety." she said as the group came into view, it consisted of the warden, whom Fortuna only met once last night when he arrived, two male Redguards and a woman all dressed in strange armor he had never seen before... and a man, who was dressed in the most regal and noble looking robes he had ever seen.

"Whats this prisoner doing here?" she snapped to the warden

"u-usual mix up with the watch i..." he sputtered

"never mind, get the gate open," she cut him off sharply

the warden obeyed and despite his nervously fumbling with the gate, it soon swung open faster than Fortuna thought that door had ever been opened... who are these people that they instill fear so readily into the heart of such a cruel man?

"stand back prisoner, we wont hesitate to kill you if you get in our way," she said taking him in, and for the first time, he noticed the curved blades the people in the still foreign, tho he searched his memory for any armor that looked like it, armor.

The warden opted to make now a good time to show his dominance of the jail "you, prisoner, over by the window and you wont get hurt"

smirking at the sweat running down the Warden's neck, Fortuna complied and moved over by the window, next to his bed-roll.

The group of four, the three in strange armor and the regal old man, moved into his cell, and over to a slight indent in his wall, while the warden closed and locked the cell door. An action that made Fortuna's eyebrow raise into his shaggy bangs.

"no sign of pursuit sir," one of the redguards said to the woman, apparently she was the leader, the other redguard walked over and pointed at Fortuna "stay put."

a rumbling off to the side made him disobey the heavily armed stranger and move, he turned to see the wall moving aside and was able to soon see a tunnel as torches sprang to life one by one leading down into the earth. The woman nodded to herself, then turned to her group "good lets go, we're not out of this yet"

"wait," the old man held up a hand "I've seen you..." he said, taking a step towards Fortuna "let me see your face..."

"erm..." Fortuna blinked, as the old man stared into his face.

The old man turned pale as ash "you are the one from my dreams, then the stars were right... then this is the day. Gods give me strength..."

"wh-whats going on?" he spluttered, that was the voice from his dream last night! "who are you?"

"i am your emperor, Uriel Septim VII" he explained "these are my blades, Renault, he pointed to the woman, Baurus, one of the red guards, and Glenroy, the other. Assassins attacked my sons, and I am next. My blades, are leading me out of the city along a secret escape route, which happens to be through your cell. By the grace of the gods, I serve Tamriel as her emperor, now you too will serve her in your own way."

Fortuna scowled "i go my own way."

Uriel laughed "don't we all? But what path can be avoided, whose end is set by the gods?"

"sir, we must get moving..." Renault cut in, eyes darting towards the tunnel and back. The old man nods, and with one last look he joins the others as they start to climb through the opening "better not close this one, there's no way to open It from the other side."

"looks like its your lucky day prisoner, just make sure not to get in our way." Baurus scowled


	2. the assassins

Chapter 2

the assassins

Fortuna and the strange group walked through the tunnel, and emerged in what appeared to be a grandiose temple of sorts buried under the prison.

"Wh-what the?" Fortuna gaped "what is this?"

"you act as though you've never seen an Ayleid ruin before... " Baurus commented. "where are you from?"

"morrowind... all we have there are the Dwermer's ruins... and they aren't nearly as elaborate as these"

"Hmmm..." Baurus stares at him with an odd look on his face.

"wh-what?" Fortuna said, noting this.

"nothing," Glenroy cut in, shooting a look at Baurus, then aiming a glare at Fortuna. "don't try anything funny"

"For the love of Azula, you make it sound like im one of these assassins," he grumbled, crossing his arms.

"how are we supposed to know you aren't one of them?" Renault shot in... Fortuna didn't like her blunt attitude.

"Because... I was in prison? I was in jail before you barged in? For something completely unrelated"

"still..." Renault trailed off, then her head darted up and her hand to her swords handle. "Baurus! Glenroy! Defend the emperor!" she yelled, as four cloaked and hooded figures drop down before them, they all quickly summon black as night Armour over their robes and draw maces from their hips.

The emperor moved to the back of the group, while the blades, swords drawn, stand before him. There is a moment of hesitation. Then suddenly one of the assassins rushed forwards and swung his mace at Renault, she blocked but misjudging the force, stumbled, giving him the opportunity, which he took, to take a knife off of his belt, and stab it in between her ribs. At this, the other blades charged on the other three assassins and engaged in a fight. Baurus taking two of them and Glenroy taking one.

Renault fell, and her katana skittered across the floor to Fortuna's feet, he swiftly picked it up, for the assassin had begun to move towards him and Uriel. The assassin, not noticing this, swung his mace towards Uriel, when, with a resounding clang, Fortuna blocked, looking at the assassin, his long white hair falling in stringy locks in his face, grey eyes shown through his eyes.

"who are you?" the assassin exclaimed "our spies only said there would be three guards!"

staring into the assassins eyes, Fortuna smirked "im a prisoner, I kind of like this old man, I don't think ill let you kill him" and he twisted the mace out of the assassins hand, sending it flying across the floor, he brought the blade of his borrowed sword down on the his shoulder, squirting blood and cutting into his lung. The nameless assassin dropped heavily to the floor, as his armor faded away.

Baurus walked over, wiping his own sword off with a cloth that he produced from inside his armor somewhere. "are you alright sire? We're clear for now."

"I'm fine..." he looked at Renault, laying motionless on the floor "captain Renault?"

"shes dead sir... im sorry" Baurus said, face expressionless "but we have to keep moving."

"Baurus... theres trouble ahead," Uriel frowned

him and Baurus walked over to Glenroy, all the while Fortuna was dragging the bodies into a pile in the center of the room.

"how could they be waiting for us here?" Glenroy exclaimed.

"i don't know, but its too late to go back now" Baurus sighed

turning to Uriel, Baurus put his hand on his shoulder. "don't worry sire, we'll get you out of here."

"they wont be the first to underestimate the blades" Glenroy growled, glancing over at Renault's body "ill take point, lets move" he said gesturing to the only door in the chamber

Fortuna started to follow the party through the gate.

"prisoner, you say here... don't try to follow us" Baurus said, and with one last long glance at Renaults body, closed the gate and locked it.

"what the fuck" Fortuna yelled, slamming on the door "do you really not trust me that much? I just killed someone helping you!"

he was about to try ripping the hinges off of the door as a scuffling sound to his right made him stop, he turned his head in time to see two giant rats push their way through a hole in the wall "what the..." they both leaped towards Fortuna at once and dropped as he swung the borrowed sword.

"Another tunnel." he sighed, examining the hole the rats came through. "if life is in there, there must be a way out, there has to be a way these things get food and water..." after taking a torch off the wall for light, he climbed into the dark uninviting hole.

In the tunnel he found a skeleton, still wearing an ancient quiver full of arrows and a rusted bow, along with a leather breastplate which somehow fit him, and leather boots, which he put on, and as he snuck past and subsequently killed a few rats, he came across a few fleeing from something. By now he had doused his torch and was relying on the little bit of natural light in the room along with his own magical night vision, he found what the rats were fleeing, a zombie, an undead freaking zombie, which instantly noticed him and started shuffling towards him.

"holy shit!" he exclaimed, falling back, eyes bulging, as the thing came upon him, he swung the blade and slashed the thing in two, the legs continued to run towards him and the body started to crawl. Lighting the torch, he threw it on them and watched as they burst into flames.

Pretty soon, he came upon a large cavern in the middle of the tunnels, in the middle of was a pit, climbing down into the pit he couldn't help but wonder how all this fit underneath the imperial prison, surely it wasn't really this big... , when he got to the center of the pit, he froze. Because all around him where signs of goblin habitation. "hell... fuck my name." he sighed as suddenly there were lights surrounding him dazzling him until he turned off night vision.

All around him were goblins, everywhere. "aha well, shit." the goblin shaman grunted an order, and all of the goblins began to move towards Fortuna. One lunged forward with a short sword, but fortune parried, punched it in the face,bruising his hand, and lopped off its head.

The goblins paused for a second, then an enraged roar tore through them and they all charged on Fortuna, he dipped, ducked twirled and dodged all the while slashing until the ground ran red and his lanky white hair was wet and looked red. glaring up at the shaman, who was about to cast a spell, blood running down his face , his grey eyes clear and cold as ice, caused the high ranking creature to pass out cold.

"well, im a mess," Fortuna sighed, cleaning his sword and sheathing his blade, as he walked past the goblin shaman, bending down to pick up its staff. He noticed a large cauldron of human skulls, next to which where, clothes. "well... thats handy."

at last, light at the end of the tunnel, after he had put on the "new" clothes, which smelled like booze. His hair was still reddish. There was no way down there to wash off the blood, and tangled and matted even worse than it was before. Fortuna came across a hole in the wall leading into a different room of the same style as before he entered the tunnels.

He dropped down, hearing voices in the distance, he crouched, and pulled out the bow. While in the tunnel he had to waste a few shots on some rats, so he was down to only 5 arrows... he figured he could take a few people sword only, so he notched an arrow and snuck forward.

Below, stood... the emperor! He had caught up with them... his eyes narrowed, and for a second he debated shooting an arrow through Glenroy's head, bastard's distrust was why he had to go through all that... but he decided against it, cause he wasn't sure if he could fight these two trained swordsmen. So he chose to listen.

"We should find a defensible location to protect the emperor until help arrives," Glenroy was saying.

"help, what makes you think help is going to arrive before more of these bastards?" Baurus yelled, Fortuna hadn't pictured him as the yelling type "We need to get the emperor out of here!"

two more assassins jumped down from the sides of the room and rushed towards the emperor, one was met in the neck by Baurus' blade, blood spraying from his jugular, and the other fell in two halves, cut at his waist.

"i think that was all of them," Baurus sighed.

"have you seen the prisoner?" Uriel asked.

"do you think he followed us? How could he?" Baurus said, startled.

"i don't think. I know she did."

"sire, we have to go, now" Glenroy ordered

"not yet, let me rest a moment longer..."

as the guards and Uriel were talking, an assassin dropped down silently, and drawing a small dagger, began to stealthily move towards the emperor. Fortuna, blinked, then quickly released sending the shaft between the assassins eyes, Fortuna dropped down as he put the bow back on his back.

"DAMMIT, its that prisoner again, kill him, hes probably working for the assassins." Glenroy roared drawing his sword

Fortuna too drew his sword, with and glaring at him said coolly "yeah, im an enemy, I just killed two freaking assassins to save your sorry asses!"

"no, put down your sword, he is not one of them." Uriel demanded. Glenroy hesitated for a moment and with a mutual glare at Fortuna, sheathed his sword. "as you wish sire."

the emperor turned towards Fortuna "they cannot understand why I trust you, they have not seen what I have, you know the nine, correct?"

"im... not on good terms with the gods" Fortuna grumbled.

"i have served the nine all my life. I have served the nine all of my life chart my life by the cycles of the heavens. The skies are filled with each a fire, and each a sign... what star where you born under?"

"the uhm... shadow I believe" Fortuna said, uneasy about the conversation, and it showing in his voice "im not exactly sure"

"the signs I read, foretell my death, a necessary end, will come when it comes"

"but what about me? Can you see my fate?"

"your stars are not mine, My dreams grant me no opinions of success. Their compass ventures not beyond the doors of death. But in your face, I behold the sun's companion. The dawn of Akatosh's bright glory may banish the coming darkness. With such hope, and with the promise of your aid, my heart must be satisfied. "

"aren't you afraid to die old man?"

Uriel laughed "No trophies of my triumphs proceed me. But I have lived well, and my ghost shall rest easy. Men are but flesh and blood. They know their doom, but not the hour. In this I am blessed to see the hour of my death…To face my apportioned fate, then fall. "

"where exactly are we going?" he didn't like talking about death, he liked this man, didn't want to think about him dying.

"i go to my grave, a tongue shriller than all music calls to me. You may follow me for a while" and at that he looked away, lost in thought

Baurus walked up and handed Fortuna a torch"if your going to follow me, you may as well have a purpose, here, carry the torch"

and Fortuna did, as he followed them from room to room all the while feeling Glenroy's gaze drilling into his back, despite his defending against wave upon wave of assassins. At last, the group came to the largest room yet, with a grandiose staircase in the middle.

"where here" Baurus said, "the gate is just off this room."

"hold up, I don't like the looks of this" Glenroy said as he walked to the center of the room and looked around "it seems clear, come on" he beckoned to the group.

They arrived at the gate to find it locked and barred from the other side

"dammit, its a trap" Glenroy cursed

"what about the side passage back there?"Baurus asked

"worth a try, lets go!" Glenroy exclaimed, the group running off into the passage.

The side passage was a closed off room

"theres no way out, or in, its a trap guys." Fortuna sighed, drawing his sword

"wait here and protect the emperor" Baurus said, staring at Fortuna, we're trusting you.

"FOR THE EMPEROR!" Baurus and Glenroy yelled together running out of the small room

the sounds of swords clashing, followed by Glenroy screaming came from the other room... Fortuna guessed he was injured, the emperor walked over to Fortuna and placed his hand on his shoulder, and pushed something into this palm

"I can go no further. You alone must stand against the Prince of Destruction and his mortal servants. He must not have the Amulet of Kings! Take the Amulet. Give it to Jauffre. He alone knows where to find my last son. Find him, and close shut the jaws of Oblivion."

"wh-" Fortuna started to say, then he saw stars, then red, then black, and all he knew was silence


	3. the sewers

Chapter 3

the sewers

he was dreaming again, back in the world with the flaming sky. The world whose very air seared his lungs. He stood in a chamber, whose ceiling was open to the sky. In front of him was a glowing stone, a stone that was set firmly in a pedestal from which a beam of almost pure energy descended into the ground and below, Fortuna slowly reached out his hand.

His eyes flew open, his head felt as if he had been hit upside the head, and upon reaching to the back of his head, found that was exactly what had happened, he looked around to see Baurus kneeling over 2 bodies, one was the assassin... the other the emperor.

"Talos save us… " Baurus whispered turning to Fortuna who had just sat up. "We've failed. I've failed…The Blades... we're sworn to protect the Emperor, and now he and all his heirs are dead. The Amulet, where's the Amulet of King? It wasn't on the Emperor's body."

at this Fortuna remembered that before he got hit upside the head, the emperor had pressed something into his hand. He opened his clenched fist to see a large, faintly glowing red gem attached to a thin golden chain

"he... gave it to me."

"strange..." Baurus breathed "He saw something in you. Trusted you. They say it's the Dragon Blood, that flows through the veins of every Septim. They see more than lesser men. The Amulet of Kings is a sacred symbol of the Empire."

"but what of the Red Dragon Crown?" Fortuna asked, perplexed, for all his life he had heard that that was the symbol of the emperor.

"yeah... Most people think of the Red Dragon Crown, but that's just jewelry. The Amulet has power. Only a true heir of the Blood can wear it, they say. He must have given it to you for a reason. Did he say why?" Baurus asked, his eyes still on Fortuna's hand, the hand that held the amulet

"he said something about a Jauffre? He wanted me to bring it to him..."

At Jauffre's name, Baurus' head jerked up, startling Fortuna "JAUFFRE? He said that? Why?"

"h-he said something about another heir... or something..." Fortuna trailed off, as Baurus began to dig through a rucksack that he produced.

"Another... I've never heard anything about that, but if anyone would know, Jauffre will. He's the grandmaster of our order, although if you met him on the street... you'd think him to just be a harmless monk." he chuckled at the last part, as he pulled out a weathered map. "he lives quietly just outside of Chorrol, in Weynon Priory."

"how do I get there?"

"first we need to worry about you getting out of here." he gestured to where Fortuna guessed the assassin had come through, a door built into the wall, designed to open from the other side, "Through that door must be the entrance to the sewers, past the locked gate. That's where we were heading. It's a secret way out of the Imperial City. Or it was supposed to be secret. Here. You'll need this key for the last door into the sewers. Also, you should take my map... I don't need it, ill take Glenroys'. He really doesn't need it."

"wait... I have to go through the sewers?"

Baurus sighed "there are a few rats, and goblins, but from what I've seen of you, your an experienced knight aren't you?"

Fortuna closed his eyes, as memories of morrowind flooded into his mind "yeah... at one point I was. But due to my being in prison..."

"rusty or not, im sure a few rats and goblins wont give you much trouble," he laughed as he led Fortuna to the door.

"So after I leave the sewers off to Chorrol?"

"you must take no chances. Get the amulet to Jauffre safely, and as soon as possible... I suggest stopping at the imperial city above before you leave... get yourself armed."

"oh, yeah, that reminds me..." he reached down and undid Renaults sword off of his belt "i figured you'd want this. She seemed important to you."

"th-thank you." Baurus said, pain flashing across his face "thank you, I will ensure this gets a home in our halls up north"

"wait... what are you going to do? Aren't you going to accompany me to Chorrol?"

"no, im going to wait here and make sure no one dares to molest the emperors body."

Fortuna placed his hand on Baurus' shoulder as he walked by "good luck"

"the same prisoner"

Fortuna laughed as he jumped up onto the lip of the secret door "the names Fortuna Lupus, I hope I see you again blade"

The old iron door, which led to the sewers, was in bad need of an oiling, or any form of basic maintenance at all. It creaked and groaned worse than the most ancient of liches.

Pushing the trap door which led into the sewer open, Fortuna's nose automatically wrinkled at the stench that, like a snap of the sleaziest most stealthy pickpocket's hands, filled the room.

"oh fuck you Vaermina... or maybe Sheogorath, " he growled, as he slowly began to descend

the sewers were dark, and damp, and dank. As Fortuna walked through, with his torch he refused to make too bright. On fear of seeing anything he didn't really want to see (he's in the sewers, mind you), he noticed a pair of rats, slowly walking along the "water."

"dammit, I have nothing to defend myself with, except my bow." he was about to reach back and unclasp his bow from his back when, from above, through one of the sewer vents under the city, a thin steel dagger fell in front of him with a clatter. Of which the rats heard and turned at the sound, spotting him, and rearing back in attack mode.

Without thinking, Fortuna jumped, and grabbing the dagger, stabbing it forward, as one of the rats leaped, impaling its face on the blade. Fortuna flicked the blade, sending the other rat, and a stream of blood, flying from his blade and landing on top of the other rat, pinning it to the ground. Slowly walking over, Fortuna knelt down beside the rat, and with one fast stroke, opened its neck, spilling its blood, which began to mix and mingle with the so called "water."

standing up, he looked down, his eyes following the direction of the sludge, off in the distance, very faintly, he could see a small glimmer of light.

Closing and reopening his eyes, activating his night eyes, he was able to see a couple of goblins. Slowly walking back and forth before the glow.

"shit," he cursed. He was getting tired, he judged it to be around noon. He'd been at this crap for three hours, he just wanted to get out and to an inn to sleep the day away, or hell, sleep under the stars, he missed the stars.

Sneaking forward, in the dark, with his night eyes activated, he slowly raised the dagger. As he came up behind one of the goblins, he slowly reached his arm around its neck, and slashed its throat. Before it died, and when it felt the steel at it's neck, it let out a small gasp of surprise, alerting the other of Fortuna's presence.

"i hate my name." he groaned as the goblin turned and raised its staff at Fortuna "i really do."

the goblin grinned as a burst of sheer energy flew from his staff aimed directly at Fortuna's heart. He dodged to the side in time to miss the jags of electricity, or else they would have probably been the end of him.

Fortuna's eyes narrowed as he stared at the face of the goblin, it was the shaman that he had let live, back in the goblin pit. "s'wit" he swore as he began to circle the goblin.

"imperial swine, you'll pay for what you did to my people." the goblin hissed, dumbfounding Fortuna, he always thought they couldn't talk

"you attacked me first, I wasn't going to let you eat me," Fortuna shot back, still dumbfounded

"that doesn't matter, I will kill you, thats why I waited here" the creature scowled

"i let you live, don't make me regret that"

"I'll make you hate yourself for it before you die"

the goblin aimed the staff again, sending yet another blast of lightning at Fortuna, who again, rolled out of the way, and this time hid behind a slightly crumbled section of wall.

He scanned the room as best he could, before coming up with the conclusion that there was no way to get close to the shaman without getting zapped... then he once again remembered the bow, strapped across his back. And smirked.

The goblin was blasting away at the rocks, slowly wearing them away, but too slowly

"come out and die pig, theres no way you can live, you might as well just die and get it over with"

Fortuna stood up from behind his sanctuary, bow drawn, and aimed

"i shouldn't bother saying rest in peace to you, you disgusting creature." he said, eyes ice again "but I guess, I should. Rest in peace, you pile of filth"

and the arrow flew across the room, as fast as the shamans' lightning, before drilling itself right through his jugular. Crumpling to the ground the goblin let out a gurgling bloody cough, and ceased to breathe.

Wiping sweat off his brow, Fortuna walked over to the now-corpse, and pulled out his dagger, which he plunged deep in the shamans neck, and ripped to the side.

"your right, I regretted sparing you" and he stood, spat on the body, and walked into the light.


	4. fresh air

Chapter 4

fresh air

he breathed in deep, and took in his surroundings. He had emerged standing on a dock in a lake, to his left was a small boat. What was probably the blades final step in escaping the assassins,

_ too bad they wouldn't need it _he thought, of the poor old mans frozen eyes.

He ripped off the found clothes, now covered in all manners of shit piss vomit and all sorts of stomach churning refuse.

"disgusting... " he groaned, now wearing nothing "but I have nothing else to wear right now..."

he sighed and threw the ripped, torn and destroyed clothes into the boat, filling it with a little bit of water and began to wash the clothes... or rather rinse most of the disgust off, seeing as how he had no soap or any such products.

He left the clothes to dry on the dock. And took dove into the water, as he swam he couldn't help but think about his day... he really had gone through hell. Waking up in a new jail cell, being accosted by an arrogant agent, escaping, fighting rats, a zombie, and an entire goblin clan. O yeah, and his recent crawling through the shit of the imperial city.

Laughing, he dove into the water, and began rinsing the goblin blood out of his hair. At least he was free... or was he? The guards never said anything about his head being cleared of money... and he still had a 1,000 Septim bounty on his head... probably more since he escaped jail.

Coming up for air he noticed he had swam near an island in the middle of the lake, on which where ruins that appeared from a distance to be similar to those he had just escape. With a quick glance around, to see if anyone was watching, he climbed out, naked as hell, to check it out. Maybe he would find something to sell on the island worth a sword or at least some armor.

As he snuck through the woods, he remembered that he had left his dagger with his clothes, as he didn't want it to get rusty... seeing as it is the only form of self defense he at present owned.

"not a smart move," he mumbled as he spotted a light in the distance... "bandits."

he bent down and picked up a stick, not the best form of self defense, but he figured it would do until he could steal a sword or something from one of them. Sighing, he snuck into the camp, and hid behind one of the tents.

"did you hear about that khajiit we had working for us?" one of the bandits asked "they say he disappeared while camping in the lower sections!"

"i warned him... I bet that two-coins had something to do with it. Or maybe he couldn't stand the argonians stench anymore. And ran off."

_so... this place is a bandits base... interesting, there should be some good money laying around. And I thought it was just a camp. How fortunate_

He grinned to himself. All he had to do was sneak in here, get some clothes maybe a sword or at the very least some money. Hell, it's not like its their money anyway.

He darted back into the bushes, intentionally allowing them to rustle.

"what was that?" one of the guards shot up.

"relax, we're in the woods, it was probably just a rabbit or a deer" the other sighed

"well, im going to go check it out anyways, just to be careful." and he drew his sword and moved over behind the tent.

There! Fortuna shot out and grabbed the front of the bandits shirt. He figured, hell, if I can get his clothes and sword... I can fight my way in, he didn't expect the guy to let out a shout as loud as he did, or the other, lazy one to bother going and investigating. But the guard yelled to his ally, and his ally got up

"fuck" Fortuna mumbled as the guard backhanded him and pulled free, sending Fortuna's stick flying to the ground.

…

He had never realized how much of a pain in the ass it was to run naked for his life before. He did now.

"i fucking hate my name!" he exclaimed as he dodged an arrow, which barely missed his ass.

"freeze!" the guards yelled, shooting at him again.

"you don't exactly make me want to!" he retorted.

As he ran he ripped a branch off of a tree, and whipped it at the archer, who, in the middle of aiming, was too focused to dodge it in time, his arrow went flying by Fortuna, and into a tree just ahead of him. Fortuna, smirked, and seeing an opportunity, rushed forward and grabbed the arrow off of the tree, his eyes flashed silver, and he called upon the power of the shadow, and vanished.

The archer was the first to die, Fortuna stabbing him through the heart with his own arrow. As his guard-mate fell to the ground, his own arrow piercing his chest, the swordsman let out a yelp and started slashing around him, trying to kill Fortuna, before he could kill him.

Fortuna scowled at this display and simply tossed the arrow into his face, impaling him through the eye and pinning his head to a tree. His body let out a last couple jerks with the sword before ceasing to move.

Standing over the bodies, Fortuna closed his eyes. "requiescate en pace latro" and he bent down, closed the archers eyes, and did the same for the swordsman after he pulled him off the tree.

He walked back to the bandits camp, and went through the tent, inside he found a pair of clothes a burgundy outfit, pants and a shirt. Also was a pouch with …! at least 2,000 in gold... they must have just robbed a passing caravan or something... he grinned, its not like it was really theirs after all... might as well... redistribute the wealth. And with that last thought, he threw the gold into a rucksack he found, and scrambled into the clothes. He had to get off this island before the other bandits caught on to his presence. He wasn't sure how many of them he could take on at once.

He ran back to the two guards bodies, laid side by side next to each other, hands folded on their stomachs, he had made it look as if they were merely sleeping. "im sorry latro." he whispered "i require use of your blade... I shall take care of it." and he strapped it to his waist, and ran off into the woods, desperate to return to his small camp outside the sewers, to get his few small possessions, and move on to the city in order to get a room at an inn.

…

he was standing at a large gate. After climbing up the large hill in order to get to the city, even passing a guard, who barely even glanced twice at him before marching over to investigate him. After a short conversation, Fortuna found out that Baurus, the kind blade he had met in the passage under the prison, had pulled some strings, and gotten his bounty removed... presumably so he could complete the emperors quest unmolested, but Fortuna firmly chose to believe that he had made a friend.

…

he rounded the corner, he was in the imperial market district... but he would have to do his shopping tomorrow, it was past 9 o'clock and the stores were all closed, passing a statue of emperor Septim, he lowered his head "requiescate en pace." Not were these words out of his mouth, did he hear a scream off in the distance... with a voice that sounded oddly familiar

"... no!" he said in disbelief as he ran towards the sound.

Turning a corner he spotted a small struggle, three guys appeared to be trying to have their way with a woman, now that was enough to make fortunas blood boil, but as he moved closer and saw who it was... he was filled with so much blood lust, he wished he was back on the bandit island cleaving through all their bodies.

"SAR!" he roared "what the fuck are you doing here?"


	5. authors note 1

Authors Note: 1

to those of you who are my readers,

in the oblivion series, most imperial names are in Latin. So theoretically the imperials would speak a form of Latin or Italian. So I chose to have Fortuna be able to partially speak both languages. But, one of my friends pointed out, not everyone is able to speak these languages, nor am I, I use a translator.

From now on, I shall be placing a translation at the end of each chapter for the Latin and Italian parts... also, im going to have the Bretons partially speak French, seeing as how they all have French names... thank you for your time, thanks for reading :)


	6. sar

Chapter 5

Sar

his fist connected with the skull of one of the attackers, slamming his head to the side of the tavern with a sickening crack, the others rounded on him, drawing daggers. He kneed one in the chest, a medium sized wood elf, and half drew his sword, ramming it into his face crunching as his nose caved in and blood spurted out. The third lunged with his knife, cutting Fortuna's cheek, which was met with a fist to the gut and a quick chop with his hand to the back of the neck. All 3 assailants were down, without his sword being drawn once.

"hey! Fortuna! I knew if I looked hard enough id find you," the girl said with a grin. She was a dunmer with long white hair, large red eyes, around 3 inches shorter than Fortuna's own 5'11" what she lacked in hight, she made up for in the chest.

"look for? You were getting raped Sar." he glared, oh yeah, she was a friend from morrowind. An old accomplice, you might say.

"oh... that, I would have had it under control... but..."

"but nothing, how many times have I told you not to fucking flirt so much, for the love of azura!" he exclaimed. "especially when your magickas so low!"

"im sorry!" she cried "i... I was trying to find you, and I figured someone here might have heard something."

"... what the fuck are you doing here anyway?" he just realized.

"well..." she blushed "I questioned around fort moonmoth, I went to visit you last week... and Erla said you had been shipped off to the mainlands, so I figured I'd come here and hang out until you got out and we could go back together..."

"you shouldn't have come Sar," he sighed "what happened to Erik? Why didn't you stay with him?"

"he got called back to skyrim... his momma was sick he said, said he would be back in a couple weeks but... oh I couldnt stand by knowing you were in jail alone"

Fortuna narrowed his eyes "i bet you didn't even go to the jail, I bet you automatically went to the tavern, right?"

"whatever, so you coming back to Balmora or what?" sar said, effectively changing the subject.

"i cant right now, I have to deliver something for a friend I met in jail." fortuna sighed. "it will only take a couple days."

"oh.. okay," she grinned. "ill join you on your little 'quest'."

"i didnt as you to," he sighed, and rolled his eyes, because he knew nothing he could say would change her damned mind.

…

Fortuna used some of the money he had found to rent him and Sar a room with two beds, to which Sar complained heavily.

"im not doing you Sar." he growled "i don't care how horny you are."

"oh come on! You only live once... besides, I picked some wine off the shelves downstairs, don't you want some?"

he sighed and rolled his eyes, Sar was a pickpocket, always had been always would be. "you didst have to do that, we have enough money to last us a while."

"yea, but its probably bes to save it for our trip, god know how far Chorrol is from here."

"look at the map, its only a two day trip, it isn't that far."

"i guess..."

Fortuna leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "im happy your here, despite the fact I think you should have stayed in morrowind, now I have to plan our trip Ok?"

"Ok" she sighed, blushing. She sat on her bed and hugged her knees to her chest. Watching Fortuna work, divvying up the money, making a list of food and other supplies, she couldn't help but think about the last time she saw him, behind the Balmora book store, the blood of a corrupt government official on his hands.

…

It was exactly one month and a week ago, it had been a long day and dammit! She wanted a drink, and maybe get laid. She hadn't gotten any action for about a week and figured, oh what the hell. Now, she realized, going to the Cammona tong council club was a stupid move, she should have gone to the lucky lockup, where slightly less shady people hung, but... well, she wanted a thrill.

Walking into the club, she had ordered a drink, and was debating subtly asking if there was any moon sugar, but didn't dare, knowing that some government officials came here, and she would be in trouble if one of them heard or saw her.

She knew she was attractive and knew that if she really wanted to she could get almost any of the guys here, only problem was, all of the dunmer present were from the main land, and mainland dunmer aren't the most attractive men.

She was thinking about leaving and going to the lucky lockup, where the out of country people usually stayed while in Balmora, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. It was Urfing, a friendly enough Nord, he worked in moonmoth and sold armor, she knew because she had bought a nice pair of netch leather gloves from him about a week ago when her old ones where accidentally destroyed tending to a cooking fire.

She smiled at him, and greeted him.

"hey Sar, funny running into you here, I figured you for the lucky lockup type."

"oh, you know, I felt like a change of pace, that place was getting boring." she giggled back, and smiled when he bought her a cup of sujamma. "thanks."

"no problem little lady," he grinned.

They talked for most of the night. And it was largely pleasant, except when Sar said that it was time for her to leave, at which he got a little angry, and tried to convince her to stay, she laughed and said "nah, I have to get home, Fortuna and Erik cant care for themselves you know."

Urfing let her go and watched her leave.

As she turned the corner, into the alley behind the Balmora book store, towards the house her, Fortuna, and Erik shared. She heard a noise behind her, and turning, she saw a hooded figure standing at the end of the alley she had just come from, a small knife in his hand.

She tried to turn and run, but he was just too fast, and soon had her pinned against the wall, the knife to her throat, she tried to kick him in the crotch. But that only resulted in her successfully bruising her foot, he must be wearing some form of armor under his robe.

For that he smacked her, and she tasted blood, she had bit her tongue badly and it filled her mouth. Taking the knife, he cut open the front of her shirt, so that her chest spilled out. Instantly she knew what was happening and let out a scream, that was quickly silenced with another slap to the side of her head, dazing her.

Her attacker continued to cut away at her clothes until she was in nothing but tattered rags, barely identifiable as clothes

she came to, and tried to scream again, he quickly silenced her again, and crudely gagged her with some part of her own clothes, she wasn't sure what though.

He pushed a finger roughly inside of her, causing her to cry out, despite the gag. Pushing in another one, he began to move them roughly in and out. The unwanted penetration, combined with the shock of the attack, caused her to burst into tears, and subsequently to black out.

She opened her eyes to a loud and wet thump, as if something very heavy fell into a puddle. She looked around and saw the tail of a black coat dangling next to her, on which she tugged. Almost instantly she was met with his face, the grey eyes, the white hair, and she couldn't help but blush darkly, as his eyes examined her face.

"are you Ok Sar?" he asked, concern clearly visible, despite his eyes were still a murderous ice.

"i... im fine... what happened?" she asked, struggling to try to stand, only to have Erik's large arms lift her into a cradling position

"nothing" Fortuna mumbled, standing. They heard the sound of armor clanking, and knew the guards were on their way.

Fortuna stood and turned in the direction of the sound, his black two handed sword still stained with blood, and turned and glanced at Erik "get her out of here, you two don't need to be mixed up in this any more than you already are."

"b-but-" Erik's started.

"Fortuna, you cant, you'll go to jail!" Sar exclaimed, struggling to make Erik let her go

"Erik get her out of here, ill fix this so you two aren't connected... fuck" he exclaimed

Erik took off, hugging Sar to his chest, running through the night time streets, they had no idea of what was happening behind them, and all they could do was worry, as their leader was carted off to fort moonmoth, to begin a jail sentence that would end up changing his life.

…

Sar sighed, causing Fortuna to look up from his writing. "whats wrong?"

Sar frowned and looked him in the eye. "nothing, just thinking about that day..."

Fortuna sighed and walked over to her, sitting on her bed and taking her into his arms. "don't worry about it, your ok, thats all that matters ok?"

"ok," she smiled, and buried her face into his chest


	7. departure

Chapter 6

Departure

He woke up, and, for the first time in a long time, he could honestly say he had gotten a good nights sleep. Sar was still asleep, so he wrote her a note, saying he went to the market, took up the money, tied his sword to his hip, and left the inn.

When he got outside, judging from the position of the sun, it was getting close to eight.

"ha ha we slept in a bit," he laughed as he got outside, and stood for a moment, watching the people walk back and forth... it was good to be out of jail.

Joining the crowd, he made his way up the street, "hmmmmm first to the food markets."

…

Fortuna sighed, it had been a long day and he had bought almost everything he needed. All he needed now was to secure some form of travel for him and Sar While he wandered the market district from store to store, buying whatever he needed, and some things that really weren't necessary but he figured would come in handy, he stopped in at the inn to get Sar

"about fucking time you showed up!" she exclaimed as he walked up, ignorant of the fact that children where running about the lobby

"oh, I see your back to normal, fan-fucking-tastic. Come on, we have to go rent a horse." he sighed, rolling his eyes, so much for her acting cute.

"A horse, as in 1?" she grumbled "did you at least get the stuff I asked for"

"no, the store wasn't selling any throwing knives or stars, we're going to have to wait till we get to Chorrol before we can buy any, besides, I spent a lot of the money. Im not sure if I can pay for the damn horse."

"fine..." she sighed "what the hell is this?" she asked, noting Fortuna holding out a bag to her

"hey, I can't carry everything you know? You can at least carry the food, ill carry everything else."

"your really pushing it," her eyes narrowed, but she threw on the pack anyway... "lets just get this over with so we can head back to morrowind and relax"

"i think it's nicer here."

…

"wow," Fortuna breathed as he passed the statue of Akatosh's avatar, they were leaving the imperial city through the front gate, and so where in the Talos Plaza district.

"its pretty amazing, isn't it?" Sar smiled. "what else would you expect from the capital of our entire empire?"

"its almost, if not more grand, then the statue at Ebonheart," he agreed. Then, noticing they were moving towards the gate, waved to the guard, who saw them, and swung open the large, ornate metal gate. They passed through, and Fortuna noticed, that despite the gates being fancy and ornate, they were thick, and presumably strong enough, to withstand even the legendary finger of the mountains blast.

"here we are" he called to Sar " stables, this is the only place to rent a horse around here."

Sar's face lit up at the sight. A few horses ran around the small corral.

"Fortuna! I want the pretty one," she squealed, pointing to a large black horse, with shining fur

"im not sure Sar, black horses are usually expensive." he sighed "and we only have about 500 gold left, so we may have to settle on a paint horse." he explained as he pushed open the door to the stable house.

"what do you want?" came a gruff, snort of a voice... orc, Fortuna guessed

"a couple of customers," he called to the back, and his suspicions were confirmed when a middle aged orc... woman he was guessing, he was never able to really tell, stepped out from behind a curtain

"Ok, I figured that... what do you want?" she exclaimed

"we just want to either rent or buy a horse..." he didn't really like this womans attitude, so much for orcs trying to negate stereotypes.

"We don't have any to sell or to rent," she scowled at him "now get out" and essentially slammed the door on their faces.

"what a fucking bitch!" Sar yelled as they walked away "she could have said it nicer, or... ugh!"

"calm down Sar," Fortuna sighed, then, noticing someone was walking up to them from the stable, trying to hail them "who are you?"

"the names Restita Stalia," the young imperial said "i heard you two were looking for horses"

"yea? So? The fucking orc shooed us out of there, doesn't look like we're getting one"

she frowned "i know... I heard her yell, im sorry" she bowed her head "but lately all of the horses have been slowly disappearing"

"they haven't been dissapearin'" an imperial male laughed as he walked up "word has it snak gra-bura's been eating them at night"

"oh shut up briellus" she sighed "but at any event, we don't have any horses right now... we're sorry" and they walked away

"did she say that orc was... eating the horses?" Sar exclaimed

oh shit "Sar calm down... don't do anything brash, come on, lets head to weye, its just across the bridge, we can rent a room there and figure out what to do once we get there"

"shes fucking eating the, Fortuna!" she exclaimed, but she followed anyways.

When they got to weye, which happened to be a small settlement just outside the imperial city, Fortuna rented another room at the inn, spending more of the little money they had, and dropped on the bed.

"you know what this means don't you?" he asked Sar

"what?" she hissed

"forget about the horses for a second dammit, because of this, you do realize, our day and a half journey just became three days"

"yeah, cause shes fucking eating the horses"

"ugh, I'll talk to you about it tomorrow, for now, just get some sleep and forget the horses." he grumbled, as he blew out the candle and closed his eyes

…

that night

Fortuna doesnt understand, she thought as she walked through the darkness. They're just horses to him. But to her, they were beautiful animals, she wasn't going to just sit by while she knew they were being slaughtered... and for food! Well, she figured they could be killed for sport which is worse but... she loved horses!

So she dressed all in black, and, after Fortuna fell asleep, snuck out into the darkness, through weye, and across the bridge leading to the stable. She hid in the woods, for the male imperial, apparently, watched the corral at night. She threw a pebble as he walked past so it made a noise in the distance, which, as she expected, he headed off to investigate.

Picking the lock on the stable house door was easy, it wasn't complicated, and despite an imperial guard stood not too far watching, she was fast and stealthy enough to have the lock open and slipped inside before he turned back around towards the stable, she had thrown another rock.

Standing over the orc, the disgusting pig-creature dreaming happily, she had small visions of cutting her up and feeding her to the horses... a sort of karmic retribution. But she knew that was foolish. Too much blood-shed would be bad. And left more of a chance to get caught, plus the creature would start screaming if she cut her up whilst alive... so... she put Fortuna's dagger to her throat...


	8. the unlucky fisherman

Chapter 7

the unlucky fisherman

blood... there should be blood! Or her arm should at least be moving. But, the hand presently crushing her wrist wasn't letting her budge, not even an inch.

She looked up, and into his eyes, her own reddish irises attempted to drill into the cold ice of his deep grey.

"let. go." she hissed through her teeth. And let out a small scream as the hand tightened "your hurting me!"

"i cant do that," he whispered calmly. "come back to the inn."

"no! Not until she's dead! I cant let her get away with eating the horses!" her voice was starting to raise, and began to wake up the orc.

Fortuna covered her mouth with his free hand as he whirled her around with her dagger arm and pinned it to her back.

"we're going," he said in a low growl, and he pushed her towards the door.

He led her through the darkness, and under his hand, he could feel the vibrations of her grumbling. Normally shed be biting his hand, but she couldn't because of the threatening knife stabbing into her back. until they were halfway through the bridge, and he let go.

The second his hands left her, she whipped around and punched him in the face, "YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!" she screeched and stabbed him in the arm

"... what are you doing?" a voice came from behind her, she turned and saw Fortuna leaning against the side of the bridge. Looking back she saw that she had been stabbing a pumpkin.

Before she could do anything more, Fortuna's arms where around her, in a tight hug. "its Ok Sar" he whispered "its Ok."

"shes eating them... Fortuna..." Sar said, now through tears.

"we don't even know that for sure Sar. What evidence do you have?"

"well that guy said..."

"just because someone says something doesn't make it true." Fortuna frowned.

Sar frowned and looked at the ground. "i... but..."

"yea I know, you love animals," he smiled, lifting her head. "but you cant go around killing people... it isn't right. We have to try to do things right."

he kissed her forehead, and put his arm around her shoulder "come on, lets head back to the inn, and get some sleep."

…

the next morning, yet again, he woke up, actually enjoying his sleep. He could get used to this, he thought and grinned slyly... or at least until Sar poured a large pitcher of water on his face.

"what the hell?" he exclaimed shooting up.

"you had a dirty expression on your face" she mumbled "i figured you were having a pervy dream"

"even if I was, that doesn't mean you wake me up by pouring water on my head!"

"whatever," she scowled. "besides, its 11, you slept late."

at that he shot up. 11! he slept half the day! He usually woke up at 6. oh, this wasn't good, they had to finish this stupid errand as quickly as possible.

"im sorry Sar, I didn't mean to sleep in so late," he stood, and pulled on a robe and ran his fingers through his hair, pushing it out of his face.. he had to get something to tie it back with. "come on, we have to find a ride or something"

they asked all around the small settlement, and where about to give up, and accept the fact they were going to have to walk, when around 3 in the afternoon, they were taking a small lunch break, Fortuna sitting on the ground and Sar on a fence, when an old imperial man limped up.

"i hear you guys could use some help."

"what could an old guy like you do to help? We need a ride to Chorrol," Fortuna sighed, taking a bite out of his sandwich.

"ah! I heard," the old man said, "my name is Aelwin Merowald. Come with me."

"Ok?" Fortuna said, raising an eyebrow. "come on Sar, this should be interesting"

they followed him back to his house, which was a small shack right on the edge of lake Rumare. He stopped in front of it, and looked out across the lake at the white gold tower of the imperial palace.

"You know, stranger, there comes a time in every man's life when he has to admit that he's lost the fight. Well, I've fought and I've lost."

Sar and Fortuna shared a look.

He looked back at them and continued "who did I lose to? Who is my great enemy? Well, don't laugh..."

"... who?" Fortuna said, following the old mans gaze out towards the water.

The old man clenched his jaw, and fixed his gaze on the ripples in the water "_..._a bunch of damn fish "

At this Fortuna managed to keep up his pokerface, and even tho he could feel Sar straining next to him, they both successfully managed not to burst out laughing.

"Ok, so you need our help with what? Revenge?... we'll do anything as long as you give us a ride to Chorrol." Fortuna sighed, closing his eyes.

"Go on and lau... Wait. Help? Oh. Well, then... I'm a fisherman. Or at least, I was. Until one of those slaughterfish damn near took my leg off. I was collecting their scales, see."

slaughterfish, Fortuna's eyes narrowed a bit... fuck his luck, but he already said he'd help.

"Ok, I had a contract with a young wizard in the Chorrol mages guild, to deliver him 12 Rumare fish scales," he explained "Then last month, one of the bastards got a hold of my leg. Took me right out of the business. But this alchemist, he needs the scales right away. The alchemist was paying so much for the scales that I'm close to having enough saved so that I can retire. But now, I can't get out there to the lake ...not with this leg. Can you believe it? I was so close! I've picked up a few things in my travels. If you head out there and bring me back the twelve scales that I need, I can make it worth your time. Help an old fisherman out, won't you?"

"Fortuna... im scared of slaughterfish" Sar said.

"no you aren't" he shot her an aggravated look "your just lazy."

"yeah, sure cause thats it," she scowled

"whatever, yeah, ill get your scales" Fortuna sighed, shaking the old man's hand. "ill be back in an hour or so."

Fortuna took off his robe, and after handing it to Sar, dove into the water and swam off into the lake.

…

he had been paddling around in the lake for about an hour, and had killed 11 of the slaughterfish, all of which were now strapped to his belt.

Hovering in the water, he scowled. It had been twenty minutes since he had seen a fish, any fish. And he was getting uneasy about that fact. As he continued to swim he noticed the birds had quieted, which was even more unsettling.

"i don't trust this," he said glancing around.

He felt something brush against his leg. Thinking it the last slaughterfish trying to figure out what he was, he dived below, figuring he'd grab it before it could bite him.

There was nothing. As he dove deeper, still nothing... until he felt it brush against his arm, and turning, came nose to nose with the biggest slaughterfish he had ever seen.

It was the size of a bull netch, if not bigger, with scales the size of his hand, and giant red eyes. Fortuna opened his mouth and a stream of bubbles came out, as he was swallowed whole.

…

back on shore, Sar was worried, it had been a while since Fortuna had swam off, and she hadn't heard any word from him since. Or even seen him since he turned around the island and disappeared from view.

She had been watching the smooth waters of the Rumare but they weren't smooth anymore. Something was moving towards shore, fast. "OLD MAN!" she called, turning and running inside.

By the time Sar and the old man ran outside, Fortuna was walking up to shore, jerking his thumb behind him. "that enough you old fool?"

the old man grinned hugely "hell yeah I'm looking forward to my retirement - long days in the stable with the horses, long mornings in bed, and best of all: no more fish!"

Fortuna had made the biggest catch ever made in a Cyrrodilian lake. He had caught the giant slaughterfish.


	9. twins arent always a good thing

Chapter 8

twins aren't always a good thing

The small carriage clattered down the wooden trail. Fortuna and Sar sat inside while Aelwin sat up top, driving.

"You know, you could stand to miss some of the rocks," Fortuna yelled to him.

"Ha ha I could, but I'd rather get this over with. Plus, we're going through bandit territory, I would much rather not get robbed."

"Whatever, when do we get to the Inn?" Sar grumbled, her usually blueish tinted skin now a faint green. "I'm not sure how much more jostling I can handle..."

"We're almost there little lady, don't you worry," Aelwin laughed. "it's just around the-" there was a thud, followed by a shout from Aelwin.

Fortuna jumped up, as the carriage jolted and began to pick up speed, and stumbled, regaining his balance, he threw open the hatch on the top.

Aelwin was slumped over, breathing ragged, the shaft of an arrow sticking out of his shoulder. Fortuna climbed out of the buggy and ran across the top to him. "Old man, are you Ok?" He exclaimed.

"T-Talos save me..." he whispered, closing his eyes. "So close to retirement too..."

"You aren't dying old man, it isn't that serious a wound..." Fortuna snapped, picking him up and carrying over to the whole in the buggy. "Sar, you take care of the old guy.."

He dropped down and took up the reins. At first, he attempted to halt the horses, even to make them slow. But he couldn't, the horses were thoroughly spooked, and, at the moment, there was no stopping them.

Fortuna heard galloping coming from behind him, turning to look, he saw two bandits quickly approaching him on horse back. Two wood elves.

Fortuna urged the horses to speed up. But not only where the bandits not carrying such a heavy payload, they also had faster horses, so they were soon upon him. They both jumped from their horses and grabbed onto the sides of the carriage and began to pull themselves up. Dropping the reins next to himself, Fortuna turned and climbed onto the top as well.

"Sar, take the reins. Or else this ride is going to get really bumpy," He growled, as he drew his sword.

Sar obeyed, climbing out the front window.

The bandits, in typical wood elf fashion, only came up to about Fortuna's shoulder. One was an archer, and the other had a sword and a knife strapped to her belt, but one of them _was_ an archer. And he knew better than to misjudge a Bosmeri archer. They both wore face masks and hoods, which effectively hid their faces, except for their large eyes, of course.

"Hand over your goods." The one with the sword said calmly.

At that, Fortuna scowled. "Your in over your heads here bandits, this cargo is too important."

"All the more reason too take it, pity, your pretty good looking," She chuckled. "I guess we don't get to do this the easy way."

She drew her sword and stabbed at Fortuna, who knocked it away. She used the momentum from his block, to spin around and have the sword coming at him from a different angle, which he again stopped.

His eyes narrowed, the archer still hadn't done anything. Best not to get her behind him, didn't need an arrow through the shoulder blades.

The blades continued to clash. With neither Fortuna or the elf gaining or losing any ground. or... well... carriage.

"Your pretty good," she winked.

"As are you."

"But im getting bored of this," She reached down, and undid the dagger from her belt. She stood there, dagger in one hand, and her sword in the other.

She attacked again, this time faster, it took everything he had to keep from both staying on the speeding carriage, and to block her attacks, as blades came at him from all angles.

"Your fast!" She exclaimed. "But You're forgetting one thing."

"What?"

"My sister." her eyes sneered.

His heart froze, and he turned his head slightly, in order to see behind him. The archer had snuck around behind him, and was now aiming aiming arrow at him.

"Goodbye cute thing," The swordsman said, as an arrow ripped through Fortuna's back muscles, and a dagger stabbed into his stomach.

His eyes opened wide as he fell. This was the first time he had been beaten... was he going to die? He thudded to the ground as the Carriage sped away. The world smudged dark at the corners of his vision. He was cold, so cold... As the darkness closed in around his vision, he felt himself slowly letting go.

...

He was floating through what felt like water, but... He wasn't wet. He bobbed up and down, slowly and gently swaying back and forth. He was dead... dying... A victim of a cheap, dishonorable trick. To think, he'd die this way... But oh well, theres nothing worth living there... nothing.

Well... except his friends, Sar... Erik... Didn't they need him? Wouldn't they cry at his death?

Wait... Sar? Sar was in trouble, Wasn't she? But what could he do? He was very much dead.

"Do you want to be?" A deep male voice asked, slowly and calmly.

Who... what? Who was that? He looked around, but there was nothing but white for miles in each direction.

"Do you want to be dead?" The voice asked again.

"No... I want to live, I have to."

"This is your one freebie, Next time you'll owe me, all you have to do is open your eyes."

"But my eyes are open..."

…

He was laying on a bed when his eyes opened. Was it a dream? He thought, as he stared up at the wooden ceiling. What the hell was that? Who the hell was that? One of the gods?

He sat up and looked around. He was in a small room, and he was missing his shirt, and his other possessions. "where am I?" he asked himself, as he shakily got to his feet. Crossing the room to the window was a struggle in and of itself, he could barely stand let alone walk.

He looked out the window upon a small village, that appeared to have been sacked not too long ago. "Dios mio..." he exclaimed. "where am I?"

"Hackdirt." A voice said from behind him. Fortuna turned and came face to face with an imperial.

"Where?" Fortuna asked, He'd never heard of the place before.

"Hackdirt. A small mining community, it's no surprise you haven't heard of us. We keep to ourselves... and you should too."

"O...k, do you know where my stuff is?" Fortuna asked. Sar and that Aelwin guy where in trouble, plus, the amulet of kings was in his bag, in the caravan, he couldn't sit around.

"Over on the stand next to the bed..." The imperial sighed "It probably would be best if you didn't hang around... people don't much like strangers in this town."

"Relax, I'm going to leave as soon as I can. My friends are in trouble." Fortuna mumbled as he slipped on his shirt. He was pushing his left arm through the hole when with a clink, something fell to the ground with a clink. It was a broken necklace... a necklace one of the bandits had been wearing.

"A clue!" He exclaimed, grabbing for it and turning it over in his hand.

"A clue to what?" The man said, then noticing the necklace, clucked his tongue. "A lover?"

"No," Fortuna grumbled, tracing the design on the front, of a tree. "some bandits took my friends, I have to find them and save them."

"Then you might want to ask around Chorrol for their location. Thats the city's symbol on that necklace"

Fortuna smirked "Which way to Chorrol?"

…

He was in Chorrol, His goal since he had gotten out of jail. But rather than head directly to Weynon priory, He immediately started questioning. He hit all the guilds, and shops, before Focusing on the seedier parts of town.

He walked through the shadows, the back alleys, questioning the seediest of the seedy. No one knew who's necklace it was. Or at least no one until he was approached by a strange hooded figure, dressed in a black robe.

"Your looking for the Bandits, aren't you?" His voice was pure Breton.

"Yeah, have you seen them of late?"

"No, but I know of one who has, in fact, they captured his farm and forced him out. I hear, He'd be willing to help you. Ask around They grey mare for Valus Odiil. Good luck"

The bar was a seedy type. The kind where only the suspicious types lurked, and even the guards thought twice about going to. Fortuna, of course, fit right in.

Asking around went fairly quickly and before long, he was talking to the man. Fortuna learned that about a couple months ago, The entire family was run out of their own farm. And they were planning an assault, with the aid of several townspeople, in order to get in.

Fortuna agreed to help, His role was to move around back, and while the majority of the bandits where busy defending against the attackers, he was to slip behind, and kill the leader, who never went into battle himself.

…

The group was small and inexperienced. But strong. They all wanted to see the end of the bandit's reign over the Odiil farm. And this was their chance.

Fortuna slipped around the back of the woods. All throughout the Farmlands where nomadesque tents. Once the fighting began, Fortuna slowly and stealthily made his way towards the largest of the Tents, which was most likely the leaders, or he hoped it was. He didn't feel like burning the while compound to the ground.

It was the leader's tent. But the leader wasn't in there, instead stood the swordswoman who had beaten him before on the carriage... and nearby lay SAR! And the old man! Sar's eyes, upon seeing Fortuna, widened, and she let out a muffled gasp. She was the only one gagged, not the old man. Which didn't surprise Him at all.

"I'm shocked you managed to track us down... cutie," The elf winked as she walked towards him. "I was hoping I'd see you again."

"I'm not here for talking. I'm here for the stuff you stole from me." He growled, drawing his sword, and rushing forward, slashing at her head.

She dodged aside and drew her own sword, stabbing at his chest. Jumping back to avoid, he clashed their swords and attempted to disarm her.

He succeeded, her sword went skittering across the floor. And she quickly replaced it with her dagger.

"Fuck!" She exclaimed, and eyed her sword.

"Don't think you'll get to it." Fortuna growled, his eyes a deep icy grey as he glared directly into hers.

The elf gasped, and dropped her sword. Then she clutched her head, let out a loud scream and dropped to the floor twitching.

Fortuna crossed the floor, and walked past Sar and Aelwin. To where his and Her bags were lazily thrown. Rummaging through them, he came across the amulet, and let out a sigh of relief, then he checked Aelwin's scales, they too where untouched.

He untied and ungagged Sar, who instantly began to chastise him for not untying her and Aelwin first. Then they began packing up, while Fortuna began to gather flammable materials around the support beams of the tent.

"We need to get out of here," He urged, throwing on his bag, and picking up the dark elf girl.

"Why are you taking her?" Sar glared.

"Well, im setting this place on fire, I can't just let her burn to death, theres no honor in that."

"like you ever cared about honor before..." Sar muttered.

As they left the camp, Fortuna raised his hand, which glowed red. And he touched one of the tents, which instantly burst into flames.


End file.
